Surfing on waves and skateboarding on land or ramps have been sporting attractions to many people for quite some time. Snowboarding has recently! become a very popular winter sport in mountain areas. Water slide parks are abundant in many areas. Such sports attractions are usually confined to geographical locations, i.e. surfing to areas with oceans or lakes with waves. Snowboarding is confined to areas with mountains, snow and cold seasons.
The prior art most comparable to the concept of SurfSliding is the patent of Croul (U.S. Pat. No. 4,339,122). However, the technical and engineering approaches of this reference are not used in the subject invention. The Croul patent discloses an aquatic amusement apparatus comprising "a shaped slope having a plurality of stationary wave-like contours and surface irregularities". The substrate is foam and the covering is vinyl. There are many engineering flaws in the disclosure of this patent, and the subject application employs a different method of designing a SurfSlide apparatus.
Technically speaking, water slides are the closest known type of art. They are usually elongated tubes or troughs following a predetermined circuitous path downward from an elevated starting platform. A typical apparatus of this type is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,194,733, which was issued to B. Whitehouse, Jr. on Mar. 25, 1980. A slide apparatus which has a generally parabolic upwardly opening cross section is defined in U.S. Pat. No. 5,137,497 issued to David J. Dubeta on Aug. 11, 1992. Another water slide described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,011,134 which was issued to Langford on Apr. 30, 1991 discloses a water slide apparatus which allows for up-hill movement by the inclusion of a drainage tube. This patent introduces a variation of existing water slides, but it still is characterized by "a trough or chute where adequate water is retained to allow the ride to skim the surface". The user is still confined to a narrow predetermined path with little or no control over his speed. Water slides in general need substantial amounts of water, and this particular slide needs to inject and evacuate water from certain points along the trough in order for it to work.
One major difference is that waterslide tubes and troughs are not designed to allow a user to stand erect. Additionally, they are not designed for the user to be an active participant in the ride, only a passive user.
Another prior art reference, M. Heller (U.S. Pat. No. 2,254,482 dated Sep. 2, 1941) discloses an artificial skiing track which was designed to be used without water as the prior art references to this point were unsuccessful in using artificial snow. The Heller patent discloses a means to exercise skiing in the off-season on an artificial track, and it is not the same technique or disclosure for surf-like or snowboard-like exercise in the off-season. Although this reference discloses the use of an artificial sliding surface, it is not similar to the artificial turf used in the subject application as Heller's surface is water resistant rather than water retaining. This is an important difference as skiing is incompatible with a water surface while Surfing and snowboarding use the water for both sliding and control.
All downhill sports utilize the same physical phenomena: 1) that a slope offers downhill force which, under proper conditions, can be translated into downhill motion; 2) that such motion results when the downward force exceeds the friction between the moving body and the substrate and therefore attains a desirable speed, and for this to occur, the friction must be kept low; 3) that the combination of high speed and low friction allows to build up kinetic energy which, in turn, allows the user to move uphill until such energy is expended. These are basics of physics and not patentable phenomena. The patentable differences are represented by the means employed to keep the friction low and constant, the vehicle design, the choice of available path, and the degree in variation of the rides and the attainable levels of skill.
By contrast to the prior art, the SurfSliding ramps employ engineering techniques that are designed for low and constant friction allowing for active motion with a continued pursuit and challenge for increasing the level of skill towards daring acrobatic movement and trickery while standing erect. Additionally, more than one user can be on the ramp system at the same time.